Witness to the cult of North Korea's Kim dynasty

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North Korea's cult of Kim

Story highlights

Western media -- including CNN -- have been invited into North Korea ahead of rocket launch

April 15 marks centenary of birth of "Great Leader" and father of country, Kim Il Sung

Kim and his late son, Kim Jong Il, are revered as gods by the North Korean people

As we leave our bus, we can barely hear a sound. We have stopped near a public square in the center of Pyongyang.

Our government minders whisked us here with just a moment's notice. In a country obsessed with secrecy, we are told where we will be taken only at the last minute. Our schedule can change even while we are mid-trip.

We'd started our day at the birthplace of the man North Koreans call the "Great Leader" and the father of the country, Kim Il Sung. This is the centenary of his birth, and North Koreans are flocking here to pay homage. To these people, Kim is more than a leader; he is akin to a god. According to the constitution, he will be president for eternity.

I ask our government minder if we can speak to some people. In North Korea, it is forbidden for us to simply approach someone unannounced.

He selects a group for us and then asks me to choose. They are young women, probably only in their 20s, and all from the same Pyongyang factory. They are nervous, wary of our intentions.

"President Kim Il Sung is our father," one lady says. "We are one family, and because of his birth, he has given us a powerful socialist state."

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Photos: A glimpse inside North Korea 18 photos

Photos: A glimpse inside North Korea18 photos

A glimpse inside North Korea – North Korean citizens bow before the portraits of the founding father Kim Il-Sung, left, and his son Kim Jong-Il, in Pyongyang, North Korea on Monday, April 9, 2012. April 15 marked the 100-year anniversary of the founder's birth and journalists were allowed inside the country.

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Photos: A glimpse inside North Korea18 photos

A glimpse inside North Korea – North Korean technicians check the Unha-3 rocket at Tangachai-ri space center on Sunday, April 8.

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Photos: A glimpse inside North Korea18 photos

A glimpse inside North Korea – A controller is seen from the window of a train along the railway on the west coast Sunday. A controversial missile launch is expected to take place in the coming days. Pyongyang insists it has no bad intentions and invited foreign journalists to view its launch site.

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A glimpse inside North Korea – Citizens dance on Monday during a rehearsal for the commemoration of Kim Il-Sung's 100th birthday anniversary. Japan, the United States and South Korea see the launch -- which would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions -- as a cover for a long-range ballistic missile test. And a South Korean intelligence report says it's likely to precede a nuclear test, as it did in 2006 and 2009.

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A glimpse inside North Korea – North Korean soldiers are seen from the window of a train along the railway heading from Pyongyang to the North Pyongan Province on the west coast.

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A glimpse inside North Korea – A woman plays the piano and entertains in a downtown Pyongyang restaurant. U.S. President Obama said the real consequence for North Korea, should it go through with the launch, is that the country's leaders will miss an opportunity. "I hope that at some point the North Koreans make the decision that it is in their interests to figure out how to feed their people and improve their economy rather than have big parades where they show off weapons," he said in March.

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A glimpse inside North Korea – Two women on the the train prepare food for the journalists traveling across the country.

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A glimpse inside North Korea – The dress rehearsal for the celebration continues in the capital.

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A glimpse inside North Korea – A pin with the face of Kim Il-Sung is affixed to the uniform of a North Korean soldier standing guard at the space center in Pyongyang on Wednesday, April 11.

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A glimpse inside North Korea – A woman ties the branches of apple trees on a farm near Pyongyang on Tuesday, April 10.

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A glimpse inside North Korea – Workers and farms are seen through the window of a train as it passes through the country.

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A glimpse inside North Korea – Bicycles line the road as citizens work the land between Pyongyang and the North Phyongan province.

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A glimpse inside North Korea – A North Korean soldier is seen from the window of a train as he walks near a small town along the railway heading from Pyongyang to the North Pyongan Province on the west coast.

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A glimpse inside North Korea – Employees work in a textile factory in Pyongyang.

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A glimpse inside North Korea – People line the street as they wait for a bus.

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A glimpse inside North Korea – A dance troupe performs during the opening ceremony of the Spring Arts Festival in Pyongyang.

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A glimpse inside North Korea – A band performs during the opening of the Spring Arts Festival.

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A glimpse inside North Korea – A building adorned with a huge portrait of the late president Kim Il-Sung is cleaned by workers in Pyongyang.

What N. Korea's rocket tells the world

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North Korean rocket launch looms

Others here are mourning the death of the Great Leader's son, the man they call the "Dear Leader," Kim Jong Il.

His sudden death in December sparked public displays of grief. For one woman we met this day, the tears have not stopped.

"We used to come here with happiness, but not anymore," she says. "My heart is breaking. This is why I can't stop crying."

This is the power of the Kim cult. These men are dead, but in every other respect, they are still alive. Here in an atheist communist country, it is no exaggeration to say they are god-like.

The drab concrete skyline is brightened only by the splashes of color of the countless thousands of portraits, paintings and statues of the leaders.

"Quickly, on the bus," our minder orders.

We are being rushed from our birthplace pilgrimage to what we are being told is a great surprise. And this is where we leave our bus.

We are ushered up a hill, and there before us is a sea of people. Everyone stands in rows, silent, not even moving. Then a thunderous roar; before them are two massive mosaics, the smiling faces of the Great Leader and his son.

The people arise as one, holding flowers and chanting. This is the adulation the regime demands.

Human rights groups and defectors claim that people can be sent to brutal gulags for not showing enough deference or the crime of having dust on one of the leader's portraits.

In this way, the personality cult continues. And now the power is passed to a new generation: The youthful Kim Jong Un is now the "Supreme Leader."

But the question remains: Just how long can the dynasty hold on to power?